Old Friends
by Liebling
Summary: “He'll kill you.” She said coldly. “I've seen him fight.” Draco gives Pansy some insightful advice about her relationship with Blaise Zabini. “Don't you manhandle her like that!” Draco said loudly. :-)


Authors Note: I got this idea while I was in VERY VERY annoying traffic. I even thought of some of the dialogue and I was like 'why didn't I think of this before?' hehe. So anyway.  
  
Pansy is married to Blaise (for your reference) and Pansy and Draco (her former best friend) haven't spoken since the last day of Hogwarts, year seven.  
  
Draco's pretty sweet in this one so I'm sort of going for the "older and more mature" Draco. He's actually oddly insightful. If you think he's out of character, so sue me.  
  
Cee=Pansy  
  
& for the most part  
  
Nolan=Draco's middle name  
  
~*~  
  
He swaggered to the red picket fence and opened it. Then he walked up the short landscape and knocked upon a heavy oak door.  
  
He was having second thoughts.  
  
Why should he go see her now? After all this time? She never tried to contact him, did she? He brushed the thoughts away when the door slowly opened.  
  
She stood, stunned.  
  
Her coal black hair was drawn up in a messy bun and small curls framed her thin face. She looked exhausted, holding a plate of lemon cookies and the hand of her little girl.  
  
"Draco!" She said, after a few minutes of simply staring.  
  
"Pansy!" He mimicked.  
  
The little girl by her side looked at the young man with her scarlet eyes. Her ebony hair was tied in loose braids, "who's he, Mummy?"  
  
"An old friend," she grinned, and winked at him. He returned the wink.  
  
"Doll, can you go inside and help your Father with dinner?" The girl nodded but sent a quick glance at the man her mother was talking to.  
  
He chuckled. "Father?"  
  
"Nolan," she said in what she hoped was a trying tone, "would I have a daughter without getting married?"  
  
He would have said something sarcastic but settled on, "who is he?"  
  
She fidgeted slightly and walked out the door, standing beside him. "Blaise."  
  
"You wouldn't-"  
  
"-I would!"  
  
"He's always hated me."  
  
"You've always hated him." She put her hands on her hips. "He's a prat, like you, I'd have thought you prats stuck together more."  
  
He let out a low laugh.  
  
"I have two children."  
  
"You're so young."  
  
"We all are," she said. "His name's-" she paused, lost in reveries, "-Nolan."  
  
"After-"  
  
"You."  
  
"I bet Blaise wasn't very happy."  
  
"He doesn't know," she grinned. "Said he liked the name and it was settled. Nolan's nine and Annabelle is four."  
  
"The perfect family," he said. "I'm surprised, Cee."  
  
"I've always wanted the fairytale," she said, more to herself than anyone else. "How did you know we lived here?"  
  
He chuckled, "I'm clever like that."  
  
"Tell."  
  
"Dumbledore gave me the address. 2138 Fairview Lane, right near the Three Broomsticks, follow the cobblestone steps."  
  
She let out a high-pitched laugh. "Dumbledore hates you."  
  
"And I hate him! Stupid-"  
  
"Draco," she said in a placating tone.  
  
"He said old friends never die, said that I ought to 'mend the fence', and he also added that he's never seen any better group of friends than us."  
  
"What about Potty and Weasel?"  
  
"Well, he said that we were second best." A sly smirk on his pale face.  
  
She laughed once more. "We were so silly back then, huh?"  
  
"We used to always skip class, remember? I don't think I ever went to History of Magic in our sixth year."  
  
"What did we do anyway? Sneak off to Hogsmeade, or go to the kitchens, or just stay rooted on that stained green couch?"  
  
"Nothing special," he said. He looked at her sparkling eyes, "-you look so tired."  
  
"I am," she said as she straightened out her wool skirt.  
  
"But Blaise?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"May I ask why?"  
  
"You are entitled in knowing." A coy smile played across her cotton candy colored lips. And then, she didn't answer.  
  
He didn't ask any further questions about that.   
  
She tapped her black mary jane on the concrete and sat down beside him on the porch swing.  
  
"Are you still going by the whole 'bachelor for life' approach?"  
  
"Always," he whispered.  
  
"Date anyone worth remembering?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Have you ever really loved someone?" She asked. "Really. The always sort."  
  
He swung his feet gently and raked a hand through his powdered sugar hair. "I loved you."  
  
She smiled, "you mustn't mean that."  
  
"Oh, I do."  
  
"I love you too!" She exclaimed. "As a very good friend, an old friend."  
  
"More," he choked out.  
  
"That was years ago," she said. "We were children then, all we had were our dreams and and maybe each other."  
  
Just then the door cracked open and a tall boy with flushed cheeks and black hair entered.  
  
"Draco, this is Nolan."  
  
Nolan stepped forward and shook the man's pale hand.   
  
"Mummy," he said in a polished accent, "Dad says it's time for dinner now. 'Bella said you were outside with an old friend, Dad thought it was Mill or something, but it isn't-"  
  
"-certainly not," Pansy said as her son sat in between her and Draco on the swing. "I told you about Mister. Malfoy, didn't I? All the trouble we got in?"  
  
"I didn't think he'd come."  
  
"I didn't either," she said. "We would've sent for you-" she said to Draco. He looked down at his leather shoes.  
  
"Why didn't you?"  
  
"Blaise and I were busy," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. "I got married at seventeen, we had Nolan when I was nineteen and Bella when I was twenty-four. We bought a house when I was twenty and Blaise was busy with the Ministry. Life went on...without you."  
  
"You didn't have time to owl me?"  
  
Her face became one of anger and tersely she said, "please go inside Nolan. Tell your Father I'll be in a minute-"  
  
"-he's worried about you."  
  
"Let him worry."  
  
The boy scattered off and Pansy's face turned very red. "I couldn't owl you."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"What do you think it means?" she snarled. "Blaise wouldn't let me write you, said we had our own life to sort out."  
  
"That's the truth, isn't it?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"I should've known," he said his voice softer.   
  
"I thought you were mad at me, after we broke up at the start of seventh year. So I didn't owl you either, I didn't know if you'd moved out of Parkinson manor either."  
  
"We missed all these years."  
  
"We'll make them up."  
  
A young man wearing a sports coat and dark black pants came outside. His wavy black hair blew in the wind, a scowl on his face.  
  
"Draco Malfoy, what are you doing with my wife?" He asked.  
  
"Snogging her senseless," was the quick reply.  
  
"Draco!" She exclaimed indignantly and hit him playfully on the shoulder.  
  
Blaise looked at his young wife and grabbed her hand.  
  
"Don't you manhandle her like that!" Draco said loudly.  
  
Pansy stood by her husband, looking up at him with a confused look. He looked angry as he held her hand in his.  
  
"Don't you interfere," he bit out. "I've always known that she was the one thing you ever loved, you can't take her away now."  
  
Pansy looked confused and frowned. She was in the middle, and it wasn't a very pretty place. She pulled her jade cloak tighter around her, the wind was picking up now and the moon was starting to come out.  
  
"Where are the children?" She asked.  
  
"Nolan and Bella are out in the back," he said shortly.  
  
Draco sniggered silently to himself and he bit his thumb defiantly. "Scared of some competition Zabini?"  
  
Blaise grimaced and said, "do you want to fight, Malfoy?"  
  
"No!" Pansy screamed stepping between the two fuming men. "Not even close, not in my house, not for me."  
  
"Oh this isn't for you, love," Draco snarled. "He's always been a twit."  
  
Blaise brandished his fists and took off his red tie impatiently.  
  
"One punch, Zabini, one punch and you'll be sorry-"  
  
Pansy had a nervous look on her face. "You're my husband," she said coolly to Zabini, "and you will not fight with him."  
  
"Don't tell me what to do," he said shortly.  
  
"He'll kill you." She said coldly. "I've seen him fight."  
  
Draco tried to hold back a chuckle.  
  
"Dinner," she said bluntly to her husband, "go inside and eat with the children. I'll pick something up later."  
  
"I don't want you out here-"  
  
"-go."  
  
He sent one more glare at Draco and went into the house, slamming the door behind him.  
  
"Nice guy," Draco laughed.  
  
"Isn't he?"  
  
Draco laced up his dragonhide boots once more.  
  
"Did you picture us together?"  
  
"Always," he said. "We never had any chemistry, no more than friends that is. But you were the one girl that I met and that I really liked, even as a friend. You were my one friend."  
  
"What's your vocation?"  
  
"Auror." And then, "don't change the subject."  
  
"You broke up with me," she added coldly. "It was not the other way around."  
  
"We were young," he added softly in her ear, "I didn't know what I wanted. Being alone now, all alone, working and eating and sleeping. No one to live with, nothing."  
  
"That's crazy talk," she added. "You just want me 'cause you don't want Zabini to have me."  
  
"Zabini is a very-"  
  
"-nice man."  
  
"I won't tell you what I know," he added dryly. "About his past."  
  
"You shouldn't, we're happy. I love him and he loves me and we have two gorgeous children, he has a great job, we have a Manor. I bake cookies and fix lemonade-"  
  
"-and it's supposed to be nice isn't it? But it's not, is it? Because you aren't really happy. You have the whole bloody fairytale but guess what's missing? The charming prince, you've gotten a rotten deal, love. You got Blaise, and no more of the fairytale matters anymore."  
  
She stared grimly up at the sky, and thought of his grim words. She shook her head, "you're supposed to be my friend."  
  
"I can be your friend," he said. "And I can also have an opinion. I won't let you make this mistake, Cee. You don't deserve it. Don't be stupid."  
  
"You can't just walk back into my life and expect me to say 'take me take me' I have a life, and it's nice..."  
  
"Do you work for the Ministry?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Do you work for the ministry? It was always your dream, wasn't it?"  
  
She shuddered, he knew her too well. "I don't work for the Ministry, I stay home, all day-"  
  
"-and bake cookies and pour lemonade?"  
  
"Do not mock me, Nolan," she said bitterly.  
  
"Do you still stay out in the bright sun and look at the clouds? Does chocolate ice cream still drip down your chin? Are you still a fan of Quidditch and firebolts? Do you still waltz in the rain and giggle 'till your stomach hurts? You aren't the Cee I know, you aren't Pansy, you're this stereotypical little girl who got worked over."  
  
Now he had seen her mad, but never this mad. Tears rolled down her rouge cheeks.  
  
"I hate you," she cried. "I hate that you know me so well and that you remind me of who I am-"  
  
"I'd hate me too, if that helps any," he wiped away a crystal tear from her cheeks.  
  
"It doesn't," she said.  
  
It sounded as though she was choking and she just pressed her head to his shoulder, "this isn't me is it Nolan?"  
  
"Not the you I knew," he said,  
  
"You know me well, don't you?"  
  
"I like to think so."  
  
"I'm going to leave tomorrow," she said certainly. "The children and I."  
  
"Come to my Manor."  
  
"I will." Then she added, "will we be happy?"  
  
"We'll be okay."  
  
Gently, he kissed her forehead  
  
~*~  
  
La Fin. 


End file.
